When I came to TIME, one of the things I was looking forward to the most was working with the acclaimed photojournalist James Nachtwey, who has been a TIME contract photographer for more than 30 years. Nachtwey has made some of the most influential news photographs in history, bearing witness to famine, flood, war, and other human tragedies. Over the past eight years, I have been his editor on stories from the Syrian migrant crisis to the tsunami in Japan, from the drug crisis in the United States to the drug war in the Philippines. It has been one of the great privileges of my life to work with him. The gallery here includes the photojournalism that has moved me the most, by Nachtwey and others I have worked with at TIME, including Yuri Kozyrev, Lynsey Addario, and Moises Saman.

Of all the photography TIME publishes, the photojournalism is the work that means the most to me personally. A provocative photograph is often the fastest way to generate discussion about issues that require the world’s attention.